Old Maps Don’t Detail Lake O’ Shoreline

Readers: Our May 8 Post Time column on the history of Lake Okeechobee caught the attention of Palm Beach Gardens resident L.J. Parker, who is a researcher with the Lake Park Historical Society and has helped with previous Post Time columns and other historical features.
L.J. took issue with the statement that Lake Okeechobee was not mapped until the 1880s. He went so far as to send in three maps of the big lake, dated 1839, 1840s and 1856, on CD-ROM.
Mr. Parker is half right. Old maps did show the general outline of the lake, but they didn’t really map the shoreline.
L.J. also questioned a New York newspaper’s account from the 1870s that described a lake with 150-foot cliffs and spiders. “Many of the soldiers that served in Florida were New York troops and would have hooted much louder than I am right now,” Parker wrote.
Unfortunately, L.J. gave our proud newspaper industry too much credit. Newspapers in the 19th century were less likely to let the facts get in the way of a good story. According to Lake Okeechobee: Wellspring of the Everglades, by A.J. and Kathryn Abby Hanna, the origin of this may be the expedition of C.K. Allen of St. Mary’s, in northeast Florida, who reported the lake had a depth of 170 feet and cliffs on an island in the lake were 150 feet high.

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